1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, such as a camera, adapted to use an image recording medium, such as a photographic film.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a new film cartridge has been proposed, in which film information, such as the state of use of a film housed in the cartridge, the film sensitivity, or the number of frames of film usable for photographic operations, are indicated at an exterior portion of the cartridge. When the state of use of the film is indicated, information regarding the exposure state (such as "no frames are exposed", "some frames are exposed", or "all frames are exposed") or information regarding whether or not the film has been subjected to development is provided.
When this new type of film cartridge is used in a camera, a film which has been only partly used can be removed and then reloaded to take additional photographs, starting from an unexposed frame. However, when there are several such cartridges including partly used films which have been removed from the camera, or when a long time has elapsed since the removal of a particular cartridge including a partly used film, the user cannot tell the film use history (such as what kind of photographs have been taken or the remaining number of frames of film that are usable for photography) from the information provided at the exterior portion of the cartridge.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-244094, when films which have been partly used are rewound in cartridges, individual identification numbers (unique ID numbers), marked on respective film cartridges at the time of manufacture, are automatically and optically read by a camera, or individual ID numbers and the remaining number of usable frames, corresponding to the ID numbers, are successively input manually and stored in a camera by the user. When some of the frames of a film housed in a cartridge loaded in a camera have been used, the camera optically and automatically reads the ID number of the associated film cartridge, or the user manually inputs the ID number of the associated film cartridge into the camera and compares it with a list of ID numbers previously stored in the camera. When the corresponding ID number is found in the list, the user can determine the remaining number of film frames stored in the camera by using the corresponding ID number. Therefore, the film can be automatically advanced so that photographic operations can be started from an unexposed frame.